Froome solos to win stage 4 of Tour de Romandie

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Chris Froome (Sky) put a different gloss on his Tour de Romandie by soloing to victory on the toughest stage of the race to Villars, while Nairo Quintana (Movistar) took an important stride towards overall victory by containing the attacks of Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) on the final haul up Barboleusaz.

As driving rain swept across the Vaud in the final three hours of racing, Froome attacked in the company of Tejay van Garderen (BMC) with a shade under 40 kilometres remaining, as the race tackled the first of two successive ascents of the stiff climb of Barboleusaz.

Froome began the day more than 17 minutes down on general classification after his surprising setback on stage 2, though with van Garderen only 1:22 off the lead, Quintana’s Movistar guard was keen to keep the move on a relatively tight leash.

The pair collaborated well together, catching and eventually dropping Pavel Kochetkov (Katusha) and Bob Jungels (Etixx-QuickStep), the two survivors of the early break, before Froome distanced van Garderen three kilometres from the summit on the second time up the Barboleusaz.

“Tejay came with me, and it worked well. He had the GC as an objective and I wanted a stage win, so I think it worked out well for both of us,” Froome said. “It’s been a tough race so far so to come and win the queen stage, especially attacking so far out, is really a great feeling. It’s good for the team, and it’s nice not to come away from the race empty-handed.”

Froome was 20 seconds clear of van Garderen over the summit, with the reduced yellow jersey group a further 16 seconds back, and he took no risks on the rain-soaked descent, eventually winning the stage by just 4 seconds from Ion Izagirre (Movistar).

Pinot attacked Quintana four times on the final haul up the Barboleusaz but was unable to discommode the Colombian and had to settle for the consolation of pegging back 4 seconds in time bonuses by placing third on the stage, just behind Izagirre, and in the same time as Quintana and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha).

In the overall standings, Quintana carries a lead of 19 seconds over Pinot into Sunday’s final stage, while Izagirre moved ahead of Zakarin into fourth overall, 23 seconds down on his teammate.

How it unfolded

With five climbs on the menu – the short Corin, the category 1 Col des Planches, the category 3 La Rasse and the double ascent of the Barboleusaz – this was the most demanding stage of the Tour de Romandie, and the miserable weather conditions only added to the day’s difficulty.

Jungels and Kochetkov were part of the day’s first, unsuccessful break, and then among the main drivers in an 11-man move that did manage to stay clear, and they were the lone survivors in front as they faced into the twin assault on the Barboleusaz.

The yellow jersey peloton had already been significantly reduced by that point – Geraint Thomas (Sky) and Ryder Hesjedal (Trek-Segafredo) were among those distanced – with Quintana’s Movistar’s guard setting a stiff tempo on the front.

Van Garderen and Froome found common cause when they attacked at the foot of the climb, and they crossed the summit for the first time a little under 22 seconds down on early escapees Pavel Kochetkov (Katusha) and Bob Jungels (Etixx-QuickStep), bridging across on the short descent that followed.

There was relative détente in the yellow jersey group on the first time up the climb, meanwhile, with the only fireworks provided by Simon Spilak (Katusha), who made a number of attempts to forge clear, but never succeeded in bridging up to the leaders.

Once on the final ascent of Barboleusaz, Froome and van Garderen quickly forged clear of Jungels and Kochetkov, while behind, the yellow jersey group was whittling down still further under the impetus of the impressive Gorka Izagirre.

Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) was the first to launch an attack from the splintering group, though he was reined in shortly afterwards thanks to the forcing of Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida).

Zakarin was the next to try his luck, launching a searing, seated drive five kilometres from the top, but he was reeled in by Ion Izagirre. Almost immediately afterwards, Pinot launched the first of his multiple attacks, but try as he might, the Frenchman could put no distance into Quintana.

The climb became a war of attrition from there, with the incessant changes of pace in the yellow jersey seeing riders such as Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Rui Costa being repeatedly dropped and then clawing their way back on. Others, like Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale) and Zakarin, were impressive in tracking virtually every acceleration.

A sharp acceleration from Quintana three kilometres from the top did little to discourage Pinot, who launched another attack of his own near the summit, but the top two on general classification ultimately fought out a score draw, and descended together to the finish in Villars as part of the small yellow jersey group, which picked up the dropped van Garderen over the top.

Froome, meanwhile, was carefully negotiating the descent, and his caution was such that he had just four seconds in hand come the finish. After being so far off the pace earlier in the race, however, the two-time winner of the Tour de Romandie played down the significance of his win on Saturday.

“I’m not necessarily here to show anything. I’m here more for myself for preparation going forward,” Froome said. “Obviously, the big goal is to be ready for July and I needed some good racing this week.”

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